Endless-chain conveyer



(No Model.) 2v Sheets'-Shet 1. O. W. ENDLESS UHA IN CONVBYER.

Patented Jan. 7, 1896.

ANDREW B.GRAHAM moro-umownsnmumu. n C

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G. W. HUNT. I I ENDLESS CHAIN GONVEY'ER.

No. 552,664. Patented Jan. '7, 1896.

ANDREW BUGRAHAM.PHUTO-LWQWASHINGTON,OS

UNTTED STATES ATENT FrTcE.

CHARLES \V. HUNT, OF EST NETV BRIGHTON, NEXV YORK.

ENDLESS-CHAIN CONVEYER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 552,664, dated January 7, 1896.

Application filed May 6, 1895. Serial No. 548,236. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES W. HUNT, a

citizen of the United States, residing at est NewBrighton, in the county of Richmond and State of New York,have invented an Improve,- ment in Endless-Chain Conveyers, of which the following is a specification.

Buckets have heretofore been made use of connected together in endless series by chains or ropes, and it is usually advantageous to make use of chain-links at each side of the buckets so that the said buckets are between the two chains, and the material is supplied by a chute or other device into the buckets as they pass along beneath the same. A conveyer of this general character is represented in Letters Patent No. 331,961, granted Deceinber 8, 1885, to WV. Griesser.

It is generally advantageous to place the buckets closely adjacent to each other and to pivot the same so that they will hang vertically and can be carried in any desired direction by the chain and the supporting-wheels that travel upon the tracks that are provided,

and where the buckets hang entirely free, the I one from the other, there must be more or less space between one bucket and the other, and the grain, coal or other material that is supplied into such buckets is liable to spill character the buckets can be brought up vertically and thenpassed off horizontallyfor ex ample, to the right-and in that case the back edge of the forward bucket-laps over the front edge of the next bucket in the rear. Ifnow an attempt is made to carry the buckets downwardly, the front edge of the rear bucket be ing below the back edge of the front bucket would cause the bucket to tip up and usually discharge its contents before the lips would clear each other.

The object of the present invention is to provide for tipping the buckets while on a horizontal or inclined track in such a manso that the" buckets will not interfere when I the direction of movement of the buckets is changed. By this improvement I am enabled to change the lap of the edges at any desired places in the travel of the endless-chain conveyer and thereby allow the conveyor to be carried in any desired direction as freely as it could be if lips or edges were not provided, and lam enabled to change the lap of the edges whether the buckets are full or empty, which. is a great convenience, because in many places the buckets have to be carried upwardly or downwardly to avoid obstructions, and either horizontally or at an inclination, and it is not necessary to turn the buckets upside down to bring the laps of the edges to the proper relative positions. To accomplish this object I tip the advancing bucket in one direction sufficient to allow for tipping the next bucket in the opposite direction far enough for the lips or edges to clear, and the first bucket is returned to its normal position, so that the lap thereupon of the edges of the second bucket is changed from below to above,

and in performing this operation it is only necessary to swing the buckets upon their pivots a sufficient distance for the arcs of circles described by the edges or lips of the buckets to separate the one from the other, and it is usually advantageous to provide sta' tionary cams or reversers that act progress ively upon these buckets, so that the lap of the edges is reversed without any concussion or pressure of one edge upon the other.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic elevation of the endless-chain con veyer. Fig. 2 is a cross-section illustrating the positions in which the reversers are arranged for action upon the buckets. Fig. 3 shows the means for reversing the lap of the lips in a larger size.

The buckets A A are to be of any desired size or shape and the chains B are adapted to receive the buckets and support the same by the pivots 3, and these pivots are advantageously the pins that connect the links of the chain together, and the links may extend from one bucket to the next, orthere may be intermediate joints in the links of the chains.

These different kinds of chains are well known in endless conveyers, and I also remark that in some instances instead of using chains com- IOO posed of links I have employed wire ropes with blocks clamped upon the same and receiving the pivots of the buckets. For these reasons I do not limit myself to any particular character of. bucket or any particular character of chains or connecting devices, and I remark that the buckets are to hang by gravity and are free to turn upon their pivots or the chains to change their direction to the buckets as the conveyer passes along its tracks, and I have represented at C a portion of the track upon which the rollers D of the conveyer-chain are caused to travel.

The lips 4: at the front edges of the buckets are sufficiently wide to reach to or to lap upon the lips 5 at the rear edges of the buckets,

and as before explained the lips or edges 4,

from the pivots, and such overlapping edges or lips will separate where the arcs of circles separate, and by swinging and holding two buckets at a sufficient inclination the bucket between can be swung freely into any desired position with the edge at above the edge 5, or

with the edge 5 above the edge l. In order to swing the buckets upon their pivots any desired character of devices may be made use of. I have represented cams or bars E that act upon the projection 6 of the buckets that are above the pivots 3, and with cams or bars F that act upon the projection 7 that are below the pivots 3, but as there are numerous devices that may be employed in slightly tipping the buckets by swinging them upon their pivots I do not limit myself in this particular.

As the buckets pass along and the projections 6 and 7 come into contact with the stationary bars or guides E and F, two buckets are tipped in opposite directions and the intermediate bucket swings from one inclination to a normal position or it is turned to the opposite inclination, it being understood that the bars E and F extend a sufficient distance to include and act upon three buckets in the conveyer as said buckets are passing along.

'In the top part of Fig. l the forward bucket of the three is shown as held by the guide-bar E at an inclination in one direction, and the rear bucket of the three is held at the other inclination by the guide-bar F, and the intermediate bucket is represented as having been liberated by its stop 7 separating from the bar F, and it has returned to normal position by gravity, ready to be swung into the position of the first-named bucket by its stop 6 coming into contact with the guide-bar E. Thus the lap of the projecting lips or edges is reversed, an d these operations are performed successively as the buckets are moved along upon the substantially horizontal track.

In the lower part of Fig. 1 the bar'F acts 011 the first bucket, and the bar E on the rear bucket of the three that are being acted upon, so that the advancing edge 5 of the intermediate bucket will swing down below the rear edge of the front bucket before the said intermediate bucket is tipped by the cam or bar F.

It will be apparent that the guide-bar acting on the advancing bucket holds that bucket until the next one behind has swung by gravity into a normal position with the edges in the proper position in relation to each other, and hence the duty of the second bar or guide, as it acts upon the third bucket, is principally to hold the same in such a position that the lips will not strike forcibly one against the other as the buckets assume the normal position in which they travel.

It will be understood that if only the bar E in the upper part of Fig. 1 or the bar F in the lower part of said figure was used the advancing bucket would be acted on, and by the contact of its flange with the flange of the bucket next-.in the rear such rear bucket would be tipped in the reverse direction, and it would swing by gravity as soon as the flanges separated, and in this manner the lap of the lips will be properly reversed in succession; but there will be more or less noise and concussion.

In Fig. l the endless chain of buckets is to be considered as moving in the direction of the arrows and the buckets may be loaded and discharged at any desired places, and the buckets are represented as being tipped successively at K for the discharge of the contents, after which the buckets are allowed to drop back horizontally; but the empty bucket is acted upon by the stationary barE, so that its rear end is tipped down before the following bucket has returned to its normal position by gravity. Hence in so doing the lap of the edges is reversed and the buckets can pass downwardly without interfering with each other, and the lap of the edges is again to be reversed, as illustrated at the bottom portion of Fig. l and in Fig. 3, the swinging or tipping of the buckets upon their pivots being only sufficient for the edges to clear each other while the lap of the edges is being reversed by the action of the cams or bars F E successively upon the projections of the buckets.

In conveyors that have chains or ropes and buckets in endless series, the tracks are sometimes dispensed with and only wheels provided where the direction of movement changes, and the present improvements may be used with such conveyers.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination in an endless conveyor of pivoted buckets having edges at the front and back that overlap an d mechanism for actone direction and the other in the other direction and change the lap of the lips previous to the return of such buckets to the normal position, substantially as specified.

2. The combination in an endless chain conveyer of pivoted buckets having edges at the front and back that overlap and projections upon the buckets and stationary bars or guides for tipping an advancinghucket in one direction and for tipping the bucket to the rear in the opposite direction, and thereby changing the lap of the lips, substantially as specified.

The combination in an endless chain conveyer, of pivoted buckets having edges at the front and back that overlap, and projections upon the buckets, stationary guides for acting on three buckets and tipping the advance bucket in one direction, and tipping the sec ond bucket to the rear in the opposite direction, the guides ceasing to act upon the intermediate bucket to allow it to return to a normal position before being moved to an opposite position, thereby changing the lap of the edges, substantially as specified.

4E, The combination in an endless conveyer, of pivoted buckets having edges at the front and back that overlap, and means for swinging the two buckets successively in opposite directions hile they are moving in a substantially horizontal direction and causing the adjacent edges to separate and allowing one bucket to swing to reverse the lap of the lips before the buckets reach an ascending or descending part in the apparatus, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 3d day of May, 1895.

CHAS. XV. HUNT. \Vitnesses GEO. T. PINGKNEY, S. T. HAVILAND. 

